Page 4 - LatAmOil Week 37 2019.pdf

LatAmOil COMMENTARY LatAmOil
Critics of fracking have voiced concerns about environmental risks (Photo: Esperanza Proxima/Flickr)
Colombia fracking projects still in limbo
The country’s highest administrative court has extended a temporary moratorium on the practice but has also said the ban does not apply to “comprehensive investigative pilot projects”
WHAT:
The Council of State
kept a temporary ban in place last week and then issued a statement that seemed to leave room for fracking.
WHY:
Opening up unconven- tionalreservesmight cause Colombia’s hydrocarbon reserves to triple in size.
WHAT NEXT:
The debate pitting activists against the oil industry and its backers looks set to continue for at least a few more months.
COLOMBIA’S highest administrative court, the Council of State, decided last week to keep a temporary ban on the practice of hydraulic frac- turing in place. But just a few days later, it issued a clarification that indicates that the country has not made any real progress towards resolving the question of when and how to explore and develop unconventional hydrocarbons.
The question has been stirring up debate among Colombian citizens for some time. On one side, potential investors, industry associa- tions, the Energy Ministry and Ecopetrol, the nationaloilcompany(NOC),haveallexpressed interest in fracking, which they see as a tool that can be used to assess the country’s unconven- tional potential. On the other side, environmen- tal and community activists have argued that the technology poses too many risks.
Last year, an environmental lawyer took the matter a step further by suing the Energy Ministry over its decision to participate in pilot fracking projects. In the initial filing, the plain- tiff demanded that the Colombian government take action to ban fracking and other techniques used in the exploration and development of unconventional oil and gas reserves.
Subsequently, an expert commission estab- lished by the government weighed in on the
matter. It recommended in February that the pilot projects be subjected to close oversight and monitoring, pending a resolution of the case. Ecopetrol then sought permission to start work on one of its pilot schemes, but the administra- tive court imposed a temporary moratorium on the practice of fracking at a hearing in July, saying it needed more time to make a decision.
Then on September 10, the court extended the moratorium. “The measure that proposed giving an open road to the exercise of fracking has been defeated while it is decided whether its regulationislegalornot,”itsaidinastatement.
Clarification and qualification
The court’s move garnered praise from activist groups such as the Alliance for a Colombia Free of Fracking. But on September 17, the Council of State served up a surprise.
In a statement, the court said that the frack-
ing moratorium it had extended on September
10 did not apply to “investigative” pilot schemes.
It quoted Lucy Bermudez, the president of the council, as saying: “The court advises that the
reach of this decision does not impede the development of comprehensive investigative
pilot projects ... made by the expert commission convened by the national government.” 
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 37 19•September•2019